The Hyp-ACB facility is a complex infrastructure able to measure, under normoxic and hypoxic conditions, the metabolic activity of living cells, with particular attention to the respiratory activity of mitochondria, in parallel with analysis of gene expression. The facility allows monitoring cell metabolism and gene expression under variable oxygen tensions, thus reproducing more closely the cell or tissue microenvironment(s) in both physiological and pathological conditions.
Understanding how metabolism and gene expression can be turned on or off in a concerted manner allows unravelling the molecular mechanisms underlying physiological metabolic homeostasis and what goes awry in disease. It will also provide information on how biological systems react to environmental stimuli. Possible applications of this technology include multiple areas of biological research, spanning from molecular oncology, cardiovascular diseases, immunology, neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders, ageing, stem cells,tissue engineering, host-pathogen interactions, toxicology, drug discovery, environmental biology, bioengineering, nutrition etc.
The Hyp-ACB laboratory includes the following key equipment :
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Seahorse XFe96 Agilent
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Hypoxic cabin Don Whitley mod. i2 Workstation
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Sterile hood Thermo Scientific MSC ADVANTAGE 1.2
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Incubator Thermo Scientific FORMA Steri-cycle 250i
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Microscope EVOS XL CORE Invitrogen
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Real-Time PCR Applied Biosystems QuantStudio 3